And I'm back.

I expected a brief hiatus during my chaotic moving experience.

I did not however expect this hiatus to last over a month.

My apologies. One stressful issue led to another and something had to give.

Instead of recapping in depth all that has happened over the past 30+ days,

let’s resort to a brief bulleted list:

• I have relocated to the North End of Boston. The move was stressful but I am finally at home and thoroughly loving my new apartment. Things are falling into place and I love the cobblestone streets, smells of garlic and pastries that lingers at all hours and the convenience of being downtown.
• A day after the move (that was conducted in 98 degree weather), my parents visited and I don’t remember the last time I was so thankful for their support. My Dad hooked up all my appliances and got everything working, as my Mom folded and helped me organize all my stuff. I couldn’t have done such an amazing wardrobe detox without her. Their visit was bittersweet per usual but as we ventured up to Maine and enjoyed lighthouses, taffy and lobster rolls, I ate up all the pure happiness of their visit.
• I’ve heard it been said that you can’t have it all at once. So while my living situation was thriving and the boy and I were enjoying each other, work became difficult. Every day was a challenge, a struggle to stay above ground, and intensely stressful. Nothing was going right and everything was becoming painful. For several weeks work took over my life and drained everything else from me. This past week I felt some relief and control over my situation; I’ve learned I must take care of myself and that it isn’t worth the amount of pain and stress I was suffering from. I don’t wish to go into details but things are better currently and I hope the rough patch at the office has passed.

With my work situation consuming my life,

my sleep, appetite and energy disappeared (as did my time to write, read, relax).

But I did mention to sneak in some fun in September;

I went apple picking with the boy and

baked delicious apple cookies and apple bread and

received numerous compliments and recipe requests.

I road tripped to NYC to spend a much needed weekend with my girlfriends

where we danced the night away and laughed til our sides hurt.

I gobbled up lemon ricotta pancakes at Sarabeth’s in NYC

and have been talking about them to this day;

they were THAT good.

The boy and I were away from each other

for a couple weekends in a row due to our mutual crazy lives

but took advantage of the time together with late nights, tv and

my new favorite dish: pumpkin raviolis.

And I’ve continued to primp and prep my new place,

cooking dinner (or grabbing eggplant & ricotta pizza slices) with my roommate

and indulging in the return of our TV shows.

And so today, going forward,

I plan to leave the hiatus behind, and

welcome myself back to writing and doing all the littler things

that I love that I’ve missed lately.

I will be returning to the gym and passing on those frequent pizza slices.

I will be reading and relaxing in front of the tv

before crawling into my comfy bed for some solid sleep more often.

I’ve greatly missed all the blogs that I enjoy reading

and am excited and anxious to dive in and

soak up all that I’ve missed out on this past month.

It’s good to be back.